Gavin Hood is the director of the new political thriller, “Rendition,” which New Line will release October 19, 2007. Hood's “Tsotsi,” based on an Athol Fugard novel, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006 after winning the Audience Award at the 2005 Edinburgh International Film Festival and the People's Choice Award at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.

Brian De Palma is the writer-director of the controversial Iraq War drama, “Redacted,” for which he won Best Director at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. Of the film school generation (Spielberg, Coppola, Scorsese), he is the only director who has not been nominated for an Oscar yet.

September 23, 2007–Marcel Marceau, the legendary French mime, died Saturday. He was 84. Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower, Marceau, through his famed persona Bip, was active on stage for more than 50 years, never uttering a word. Offstage, however, he was famously chatty. “Never get a mime talking. He won't stop,” he once said.

Seeing Brad Pitt in character for the first time, author Ron Hansen recalls it was like having the subject of his years-long research come powerfully to life: ?¢¬Ä¬úWhen I saw him on the set I didn?¢¬Ä¬ôt think ?¢¬Ä¬òThere?¢¬Ä¬ôs Brad Pitt?¢¬Ä¬ô–I automatically thought, ?¢¬Ä¬òThere?¢¬Ä¬ôs Jesse James.?¢¬Ä¬ô?¢¬Ä

Italian-born but international filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci received the Golden Lion lifetime achievement Award at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. His career is marked by both personal arthouse films and big-screen epics.